The Brooklyn Italians threw the first punch in Tuesday night’s U.S. Open Cup match when Karim Russell floored Rhinos forward Conor Chinn with a leaping elbow to the back of the head in the third minute. But Rochester threw the only ones that landed. Goals in the 25th minute by McManus and 43rd by Conor Chinn gave Rochester control, and top-scorer JC Banks finished off the visitors with a 76th-minute strike in a 3-0 win at Sahlen’s Stadium.

“Very professional effort. I was very happy with it,” Rhinos coach Jesse Myers said after his team led 17-5 shots and shut out its seventh opponent in eight matches. “We sorted them right out from the get-go.”

The Rhinos have USL PRO League matches Friday at Harrisburg (2-1-3) and Saturday at Dayton (0-4-3), then play at Major League Soccer’s Philadelphia Union (2-6-2) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in a third-round U.S. Open Cup match at PPL Park in Chester, Pa. Aquinas graduate Krystian Witkowski is a rookie and backup midfielder for Philly, and former Rhinos goalie Chase Harrison is coming off his first MLS start, a 1-1 tie against FC Dallas, on Saturday for the Union.

“If you make mistakes against an MLS team you’ll get punished,” said McManus, the former Scottish Premier League player who spent the 2009 season in MLS with Colorado. “We have to defend well.”

The Rhinos did a lot well against Brooklyn, an amateur team that’s 10-1-1 in the National Premier Soccer League, including survive a brutal tackle. No, not the one on Chinn. Kirk Scarlett tackled McManus late and hard to earn a red card in the 60th minute. McManus was on the ground in pain for a couple minutes, but limped off the field with some help. He said he has a contusion on his shin. “If my leg was planted it could have been a lot worse,” McManus said.

Myers doesn’t fear any fracture. The way McManus chatted up the bench after coming out on that play, Myers figured the 31-year-old would be OK. Then again, McManus was pretty happy to finally score his first goal as a Rhino. It came on a 10-yard header after Troy Roberts’ text-box header back in front off Danny Earls’ far-post corner kick.

Earls-to-Roberts-to-Chinn was also the corner-kick combo on the second goal, a spinning shot from eight yards.

“The longer it goes, the longer you’ve not scored,” it weighs on you, McManus admitted. “I have not had a lot of chances, but it’s good to get off the mark. Hopefully now I can get hot.”

Earls, the 23-year-old from Ireland, looked sharp playing centrally rather than his usual left midfield role. In addition to both corners, he cracked four good free kicks with his left foot that nearly led to goals and directed the attack. Chinn, 24, a former New York Red Bulls player, had missed twice before finally also scoring his second goal as a Rhino. “I should have at least had a hat trick,” Chinn said.

He said Russell “just jumped through me,” on that early hard foul. “I think it gave everyone a jump start,” Chinn said. “It set a tone for everyone to know that they’re not here to just play around. They’re here to play hard.”

Rochester matched the intensity until the end. Second-half substitutes Masaki Hemmi, a 25-year-old native of Japan making his Rhinos’ debut, set up Banks’ goal with a good cross that Graciano Brito, who replaced McManus, headed to Banks. He cut in front of the keeper to get the ball and score. “We didn’t take our foot off the gas from minute on to 90,” Earls said.

USL PRO Team of the Week: Harrisburg midfielder Yann Ekra’s hat trick in a 4-0 rout of a tired Dayton team earned him USL PRO League Player of the Week and a game-tying goal by Quavas Kirk in the 74th minute by Rhinos defender landed him a spot on the Team of the Week.

Pos

Player

Team

Highlights

GK

Hunter Gilstrap

Pittsburgh

Had pair of outstanding performances, including eight-save shutout

D

Andrew Marshall

Harrisburg

Was a force in both the City Islanders’ shutouts last week

D

Nixon Dias

Dayton

Provided stability in defense, and joined attack well, against Rochester

D

Quavas Kirk

RHINOS

Goal maintained Rhinos’ undefeated start to the season

D

Luke Vercollone

Richmond

Helped Kickers keep things tight defensively against Riverhounds

M

Hagop Chirishian

Wilmington

Scored as second-half substitute to earn draw with Charlotte

M

Gerson Dos Santos

Richmond

Controlled the midfield for the Kickers in their visit to Pittsburgh

M

Yann Ekra

Harrisburg

Hat trick in his first start of the season against Dayton

F

Darryl Roberts

Charlotte

Highlight-reel goal helped Eagles earn point against Wilmington

F

Sainey Touray

Harrisburg

Had a pair of assists and was constant attacking threat on Saturday

F

Dawyne Smith

Pittsburgh

Scored his first professional goal against Richmond on Friday

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Jeff DiVeronica has covered professional soccer and the Rhinos for the Democrat and Chronicle since the team's inception in 1996. "Devo's Direct Kicks" takes aim mostly at Rochester soccer, but will also highlight the USL, MLS and U.S. national team play. Devo, his nickname since college at St. John Fisher, also hosts two weekly radio shows each Saturday on WHTK-AM/FM (1280/107.3 or www.whtk.com). "Kick This!" (11 a.m.) features soccer talk, while the Canandaigua National Bank High School Sports Show (noon) covers Section V sports. E-mail Jeff at jdiveron@DemocratandChronicle.com.
Or follow him on Twitter: @RocDevo